Microsoft updates Facebook Beta for Windows Phone 8

Microsoft is continuing to update its Facebook Beta app, which has been well received by the Windows Phone community. The latest release, version 5.0.1.4 is a minor bump from when we last covered the app so we can only assume minor fixes and improvements have been applied to help make it a more stable experience.

We're impressed by the beta and it's a huge leap forward from what consumers were provided back on Windows Phone 7. Notice anything new while using the new release? Be sure to shout out in the comments. You can download Facebook Beta from the Windows Phone Store (Windows Phone 8 only).

Is it just me, or does anyone notice that messages from facebook isnt getting getting thru to the native messaging app on the wp8 if u install fb beta. Sure the first message got thru, but subsequent conversation does not. Tried disabling all notifications. But problem still persists. Cant disable fb beta at background tasks on settings though.

It looks like the new one is going to display large pictures like the Android version does! :( That's one of the things I like about the current WP FB app. Pictures only display a thumbnail and I can click to enlarge if I so choose. The large pictures slow things down and are a waste of bandwidth!

I don't see what the big buzz is about this app. Yeah its okay in design but I can't execute simple things like "liking" something and it doesn't even display the comment in which you want it to. Its beta, I get that. The whole process is just too slow. We need rapid updates. Not just once a month.

Wish they were doing a beta for 7.x devices, but using the "JDB for Facebook" app in the meantime for better functionality. I realize it's likely just an interface to their mobile site, but it works pretty well and I can get to my Interest Groups - something the official app doesn't do.

I've noticed that notification links now no longer take you to a blank page. The bold font on unread notifications was a welcomed feature as part of the last update, but will still not refresh itself after viewing each. Thus far, we've seen mostly bug fixes. I'm really hoping to see features added to this app. Some features that I'd like to see with this app (and are commonplace with other platforms) are: the ability to send photos in messenger (the fact that this hasn't been implemented in the messenger app is appalling) the ability to upload photos into an existing gallery of choice (not just mobile uploads), the ability to post updates on your pages (using the page as your identity), the ability to upload video directly in the app (although the 'share' feature in the photos hub app works just fine), and the ability to upload multiple photos at once. PLEASE add these features! Made the switch to WP8 with my new Lumia 928, but miss the polish of the iOS Facebook app.

It seems to have fixed the problem I was having where you would scroll way down in your feed to get caught up on the days events and, when you clicked to look at a picture and then went back to the feed, it would reload everything and push you back to the top. It's not doing that now which is great. Nice job. I like it much more than on iOS.

First, tap the three line bar in the top left of the landing page and scroll to settings. Once in settings, swipe to the right or left page. What happens when you do this? For me, almost everytime, the app thiks I'm seleting a setting(either "Enable shake to refresh" or " advanced settings"). I know this is a minor inconvenience but c'mon! This shouldn't even be an issue.

if I swipe to the right, it appears to do what its supposed to (bringing up the 'search' field with friends and apps headings beneath it). If I swipe to the left, whatever field I 'swipe' over it brings up that option instead of showing me the friends list.

Swiping over a field should not do that. *Tapping* on the field should do that. I'm with mr_808. It should go back to the left menu, not select the field you swiped over! It is minor though, you just have to use the back button instead.

This happens when you "start" your swipe on one of the settings. It seems to think that when you start the swipe on a setting and then slide off screen or over, it takes it as a release, so it opens the setting. To get around it, start your swipe at the edge of the phone, off the screen, kind of like a gesture swipe. Then it'll perform the way you'd expect.

Because this app isnt in the store you won't get updates from the store for it, unfortunately you'll just have to keep checking ... could always use something like an RSS reader, add wpcentral to that then you will get notifications when they make posts (if one of these posts happens to be an app update then you should see it the same day) That's what i've done.

I like the app - but - is it just me that want back the search icon at the bottom when sliding to the left or right instead of having a big bar at the top? It was like that in the first beta, and it fits the Windows Phone UI so much better.

No more empty blank screen when you open a notification. Now it actually displays whatever your friends have commented/liked whether it's a video, status or link. I am very pleased with that! Before I would see someone liked something and I would have to go to my profile to figure what was it lol Well not anymore! :D

Those 3 dot menu buttons (brought by Google and then followed by FB in their android app) are very hard to press, for eg in my android play store app, I end up clicking the card instead of those menu dots.

Google does not know a damn thing about UI design, thats why we see changes so often and even with so often changes, they can never get the usability of their OS right.

Only thing that keeps Android alive is

1) Google apps
2) No. of apps

Nobody really LOVES android. Everybody LOVES WP8, even with the fact that its new with less apps and missing features.

Funny that my L900 under contract for nearly another year continues to not get these nice updates to apps that totally suck like Facebook on 7.8. Microsoft is turning into Apple not supporting their customers in contract still with "legacy" hardware.

Microsoft did announce they were going to roll this out to 7.8 See Here. Also worth noting, even on WP8 when you install facebook by searching the store, it installs the "old" version and not facebook beta... In order to get the beta version a direct link (provided in the bottom of the article) is required.